


the places you will be from

by ohvictor



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Nonbinary Character, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 00:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13582347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohvictor/pseuds/ohvictor
Summary: Rei spends the day in the infirmary, just because.





	the places you will be from

**Author's Note:**

> "haven't you written enough fics about rei camping out in the infirmary" yes. here's another. there's no point in this really except that i only got a snippet of my hcs of their relationship out in bite so i wrote something a little longer and hopefully only a little superfluous.
> 
> rei uses they/them pronouns here. the title is from closing time by semisonic; it seemed like the right "vibe"

Rei enters the infirmary bright and early on Monday morning with the air of reporting to class, or perhaps even to work. They scope out their favorite bed, the one set in the corner, now pleasant-smelling from the weekend laundry change, and settle into it, guiltlessly stealing a pillow from one of the other beds to tuck under their sore knees and fluffing the bed’s own pillow behind their back. All they’re missing is some juice, or maybe tea, but they’re not too hungry yet, so they take out their laptop and start the day’s work.

For now, the day’s work consists of catching up on Instagram, which Natsume had recently taught Rei to use after he’d shown them a selfie of Ritsu’s and received a barrage of questions as to how Natsume got to see such cute pictures of Ritsu while Rei did not! Ritsu will probably find out which account is Rei’s soon and block them on principle, but for now, Instagram is a blissful experience, not _only_ for pictures of Ritsu but for catching up on all sorts of people, current classmates, old friends, their own brother who lives in their own house, etc.

They’re almost entirely caught up on their “feed” when Sagami enters nearly half an hour later, looking disheveled with bags under his eyes that look heavier than the bag on his shoulder.

“Sakuma,” he grunts, and he walks over to his desk and angles himself forward until his bag succumbs to gravity and slides off his shoulder on its own. His eyes aren’t even all the way open.

“Sagami-kun,” Rei greets him. “Rough night?”

“ _Fun_ night,” Sagami says, and slumps into his desk chair with a yawn that cracks his jaw. “Shouldn’t you at least _try_ to go to class before coming in here?”

Rei shrugs. “I could have gone to my club room instead, where I can get up to all sorts of mischief under even less supervision.”

“By mischief, do you mean napping?”

“Yes.” Rei beams, only half for show.

They watch as Sagami flips the clasps on his bag and begins unloading the few things he bothered to bring to school - folders full of paper, a set of rubber stamps, a bottle of water, a roll of paper towels since the infirmary ran out a week too early for the budget plan. As Sagami settles down at his desk to work, or at least to massage his temples, Rei remembers the tomato juice in their bag, and gets an idea.

“Do you have any vodka in here?”

Sagami’s eyes, half-shut, flicker open with badly disguised interest. “You’re nineteen.”

“Not for me. For you.” Rei waves a hand at their bag. “I have some tomato juice. You could make a Bloody Mary. It’s good for hangovers.” Rei taps their chin. “And dog names, or so I hear...”

“A Bloody Mary with just tomato juice and vodka?” Sagami’s eyes are sliding closed again. “I might have some salt somewhere...”

Rei hums, putting on their best innocent look. “What about vodka?”

Sagami manages a good approximation of a glare even with his eyes half shut. “Shut up. You’re nineteen.”

“I guess not.” Rei reaches into their bag and pulls out a small bottle of tomato juice, which they open with as much emphasis as possible so that unscrewing the cap makes a nice audible _pop_ of release. “I’ll save a bottle for you, should you change your mind.”

“You probably got up to all kinds of bad boy stuff when you were traveling last year,” Sagami says. He tilts his head to the side, looking at Rei. “One day you’ll have to tell me.”

“Perhaps when you’re off the clock.” Rei takes a long, pointed sip of juice. “Would you like to see a picture of my brother? Sakasaki-kun showed me on Instagram, you know?”

Sagami laughs, and draws a folder from the haphazard stack on his desk. He’s perking up a little, energized by the conversation. The crinkles around his eyes show when he laughs, and something about them puts Rei at ease. “I think it’d be a little weird for a teacher to look at you kids’ Instagram accounts, right? Besides, your brother comes in here often enough, ‘s not like I forgot what he looks like.”

“Suit yourself,” Rei sighs. In contrast, the conversation tires them out, but it’s the nice sort of tired that makes you want to be wrapped in a blanket if you’re going to keep talking. As an afterthought, they put their laptop away and set the juice on the floor under the bed - perhaps a mid-morning nap would do them good, as long as Sagami doesn’t get any rowdy visitors.

And so Rei dozes through the next couple of hours. The few times they open their eyes, other students decorate the room, nursing stomachaches or bandages, until at some point Sagami pulls the curtain in front of Rei’s bed, and then they don’t see anyone at all. It’s not quite the restful sleep their coffin provides, but it’s less lonely than holing up in the light music club room, where the only people who visit them are their unit, their club, and their Oddballs, if they’ve bothered to attend school at all.

When Rei wakes up, Sagami’s desk has significantly more paperwork on it, as well as a beer can poorly hidden behind a stack of folders. Sagami himself is rummaging through a cabinet, and he doesn’t turn when Rei yawns and sits up, even when the bedsprings groan under them.

“Good morning,” Rei says. Sagami drops two folders on his feet and swears under his breath.

“I forgot you were over there,” he grumbles, stooping to pick up the folders. “Welcome back to life.”

Rei raises their arms over their head and stretches, ignoring the accompanying suspicious cracks from their elbows and ribs. “Did I miss anything important?”

“Nah, ‘s been a quiet day.” Sagami retrieves a few more folders from the cabinet and returns to his desk, muffling a yawn of his own behind his elbow. “Akiyan assigned me all this garbage to do, with a pretty nice reward if I actually do it.” He winks roguishly at Rei from over his stacks of paperwork.

“Gross,” Rei says. The clock on the wall says it’s time for them to slink back to their clubroom and greet their rowdy juniors, although the thought of walking down all those hallways is acutely unpleasant. “Did you ever take me up on the Bloody Mary?”

Sagami snorts. “No. Did you think I would?”

“No.” After another few seconds of dreading having to move, Rei drags themself out of bed, retrieving their various possessions and stuffing them back into their bag. Sagami watches them from behind his stacks of papers, and when Rei’s all packed up, he offers, “Did you have a good day off?”

“Yes.” Rei hefts their bag onto their shoulder. Despite the afternoon sun pressing through the blinds on the infirmary windows, they’re starting to gain some energy back at the thought of seeing Koga and the twins. “It’s good to have a mental health day once in a while, no?”

“Yeah.” Sagami makes a shooing motion, yawning. “See you in two days or whatever.”

“Bye.” Rei’s halfway out the door when they turn back and add, “Next time, we should make Bloody Marys.”

“Yeah, next time I desperately want to be fired,” Sagami calls after Rei’s retreating back.

**Author's Note:**

> bite isn't on hold; i just felt guilty publishing more chapters of that while also publishing new fics. the enstars tag doesn't need my gay little hands all over it _that_ badly


End file.
